


Merry Christmas, Darling

by SlightlyTwistedSilverware, WelshWitch1011



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Christmas, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Grant Ward Still Deserves Better, Romance, Skyeward - Freeform, Team as Family, Ward is Hellfire, Ward redemption, quakefire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:47:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21925411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlightlyTwistedSilverware/pseuds/SlightlyTwistedSilverware, https://archiveofourown.org/users/WelshWitch1011/pseuds/WelshWitch1011
Summary: 'I've just one wish on this Christmas Eve, I wish I were with you.'
Relationships: Skye | Daisy Johnson/Grant Ward
Comments: 15
Kudos: 107





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, we're back with another Skyeward Christmas fic. Although we've finished this story, it will be posted in three parts in the next day or so- mainly because we thought one long post might send you all cross-eyed. 
> 
> It's inspired by the song 'Merry Christmas, Darling' and we thoroughly recommend that you check out the version by Christina Perri. 
> 
> This fic is AU - Ward did indeed follow Skye down into the temple in San Juan and became Hellfire. We'll go along with the Jiaying/Cal craziness, but only because it's Christmas and we're too lazy to fix that. This is a Ward redemption fic, and he's back with the team, where he belongs!! (Yes writers, we're still glaring at YOU.) 
> 
> We hope you enjoy it, and we wish you all a very Merry Christmas/Happy Hannukah! We'll see you all on the flip-side, with a new crackfic in early 2020.
> 
> Disclaimer: We own nothing. Not AOS, not the song lyrics, and most tragically of all, not Brett Dalton.

**15** ** th  ** **December 2015**

Packing for missions was a task that never usually bothered him but, this time, Grant found that his heart felt heavy, and his head clouded with anxiety. He did his best to hide both, of course. Skye, too perceptive for her own good at times, watched him from the armchair in the corner of his room, and he didn’t want to concern her any more than she already appeared to be.

In her hands, she nursed a mug of coffee, which remained untouched. She hadn’t spoken a word for nearing ten minutes and Ward was disconcerted by the silence. Skye could generally be relied on to provide a steady stream of chatter to narrate the most mundane of activities, but a kind of melancholy had fallen over her ever since Ward’s mission order had rolled in. She’d been too quiet for days and Ward was beginning to think the impending separation wasn’t a good idea; after all, it would be their first following their Terrigenesis, and Skye relied on him at times to help her rein in her abilities.

“We still have time to grab dinner before I go,” he said, his desire to fracture the quiet winning out. “I’ve got a few hours before I have to report in.”

Skye nodded and raised the mug to her lips, but didn’t drink. Instead, she lowered it back down after a few seconds, bringing it to rest in her lap.

“As long as nobody sees us, right?” she replied. It sounded so much like a barb that Ward flinched, yet he didn’t turn. He carried on rolling shirts and Henleys to stuff inside his bag, although he’d long since lost track of what he’d already packed.

“We’ve talked about this.” He spoke patiently, not once looking up from his task. “I’m trying to protect you, Skye. I don’t want you to have to choose between them and me.”

“Shouldn’t that be my decision?” Skye demanded, placing her cup down on the table next to her with a loud slam that slopped some of the liquid over the rim. Ward watched her, not commenting on the stream of coffee that trickled steadily onto his carpet.

This time, Ward did pause, then he walked over towards her chair and dropped down to his knees with a sigh. Taking her hands in his, he coaxed her into meeting his eyes.

“Skye… what I did? It’s… It’s gonna take a long time to make that right with the team. Coulson gave me a second chance and I’m grateful. It’s more than I deserved. But I need to prove myself to them. And… and all of their anger and hatred? I deserve that. But I won’t let them destroy what we have, and if they knew about you and me…” He shook his head, lips forming a tight line as he brushed his thumb over the back of her hand. He allowed his worst fears to remain unspoken.

In Ward’s mind, if Coulson knew he and Skye were lovers, it would certainly mean him being transferred out of the team. Worst case scenario, Coulson could make it so they never saw each other again. The Director might have given him a second chance to prove his worth, but Grant doubted that was a green light to engage in a romantic relationship with Phil’s surrogate daughter. In addition, Ward assumed that Fitzsimmons and May would take their latent anger at him out on Skye and, after the trauma she’d suffered over the past year, that wasn’t something he wanted for her.

Skye hefted a petulant sigh as she peered up at him. Grant tenderly cupped her cheek and she brushed a kiss to the centre of his palm.

“I’m getting really tired of pretending to hate you, Ward.”

“Come here.” Tugging Skye to her feet, Ward pulled her into his chest and tried to placate her with a hug. His arms wound tightly around her, and she embraced him in response, settling her cheek to rest against his shoulder.

“I don’t see why Coulson has to send you on this mission,” she griped. “It’s not like S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn’t have plenty of other Specialists.”

Ward blinked back the sting of his own remorse, his fingertips caressing the back of Skye’s neck. “Yeah. But I’m expendable. They’re not.”

Skye groaned in irritation even as she slid her arms up his body to wind them around his neck.

“Shut up, Grant! You’re not expendable. If Coulson didn’t trust you even a little bit, he wouldn’t be sending you on this sucky mission. You’re killing my Christmas spirit here!”

Ward chuckled and stepped back out of Skye’s embrace after landing a consolatory kiss on the crown of her head.

“I didn’t think you were big on Christmas,” he said, glad for the opportunity to change the subject. Truthfully though, he’d never known her to be particularly enamoured with the holiday season. However, he’d noticed a marked difference in her this year. Skye had seemed far more attentive to the various festive adverts popping up on the TV, and she’d been enthusiastic about being part of the committee that decorated the base. He’d even walked in on her indulging in some online shopping, although she’d been quick to close the laptop screen when he’d drawn too close.

“Well, not usually, but I figured this year could be different,” she explained, averting her eyes and doing her best to mask her disappointment. “I mean, it’s our first Christmas together so…”

Ward mentally cursed as he realised he’d only succeeded in making Skye feel more miserable, and he zipped his bag closed with more force than necessary.

“It’s not like that has to be a big deal, though.” She covered for herself quickly, perhaps fearing some kind of rejection from Ward or perhaps merely feeling foolish for having been caught out in her eagerness. Before she could utter another word of explanation, Ward crossed the room and hefted Skye out of the chair. She let out a squeal, arms instantly locking around his neck like she was afraid he might drop her. Grinning, Ward looked down into his girlfriend’s face before kissing the tip of her nose.

“This is a big deal to me,” he stated. His tone was firm and left no room for argument.

Unable to prevent a smile from winding its way across her lips, Skye nodded.

“I guess you probably didn’t have the best Christmases growing up either,” she said, voice quietening to a sombre murmur. “At the orphanage, we’d get one present. That was more than a lot of kids got so I guess we were lucky. They’d come from donations local families made to the mall. Every year, a couple of store owners would come by to present us with the gifts, and the nuns would line us up so we could have our photo taken. I hated those pictures. The kids in school were cruel about it, you know?”

She grew silent again, no doubt recalling a hundred childish taunts and jibes. Ward pulled her close and settled on the edge of the bed, careful to keep Skye balanced on his lap as he did so.

“By the time I was eight, I worked out it wasn’t really worth it,” she continued, her fingers toying with the hem of Ward’s shirt. She examined her own hand intently but Ward figured it was more so she didn’t have to meet his gaze. She struggled at times to exhibit her vulnerability to him, especially in the wake of her parents’ betrayals. He couldn’t begin to comprehend what she’d been through, although he dearly wished he could. Ward had made peace a long time ago with the fact he had simply never had a mother, and so he couldn’t imagine suddenly having what he’d missed most presented to him, only for it all to fall down around his ears.

“I used to ask Santa for a mom and a dad, and obviously a dog,” giggled Skye, burying her face in Ward’s shoulder for a moment as though embarrassed by the memory. When she pulled back, she continued in a far more subdued manner.

“Sister Mary Anne had to tell me to stop because it upset everyone. So then I asked for a pair of orange roller blades.”

“Did you ever get them?” asked Ward, genuinely interested to hear her answer. From the soft, almost imperceptible snort she released, he thought he could guess her answer.

“Are you kidding me? Hell, no! People spend like ten dollars max. on those charity gifts. I got stationery.”

“Well,” he began, fingertips brushing her hair back from her face, “maybe Santa will be a little more forthcoming this year.”

Skye grinned, leaning forward in his lap and seeking his lips. Another hasty yet evidently hungry kiss had barely ended before she was inquiring impishly, “Oh, yeah?”

“Uh huh,” he affirmed, hands mapping out her sides. Skye melted into his advances, pushing him backwards onto the bed behind them, and releasing a moan of approval when he rolled them over. Ward settled in to the cradle of her hips, eliciting a wanton gasp from her, despite the layers of clothing that separated them.

Her breath ghosted his lips as she lifted her head from the mattress, clinging to him as though reluctant to let go. Skye’s voice lost its playful note, and her eyes widened as she gazed at him before speaking.

“Just come home in one piece, that’s all I want. Okay?!”

“Okay,” he replied, both bemused and delighted that somebody could care for him; or more specifically, that Skye could have somehow fallen in love with him again. It was more than he deserved, and the idea of having somebody to come home to was making it increasingly difficult to imagine leaving her side the next morning. But orders were orders, and he was doing his level best to work his way back into the team’s good graces.

Intent on making the next few hours as memorable as possible in light of their impending separation, Skye began to tug at Grant’s shirt. Her fingers were deft as they worked insistently at the buttons on his collar, whilst she consumed his mouth in kisses that were clashes of tongue and teeth.

“The roller blades?” Ward began, pausing at the column of her throat. “Do they have to be orange?”

Skye collapsed into a fit of giggles, shaking her head as she smoothed a palm against Ward’s cheek.

“You’re kind of cute for a trained assassin, you know that?” she chuckled. Ward smiled and lowered his forehead so that it rested against Skye’s, allowing him to stare directly into the brown eyes that melted him on a regular basis.

“Only with you, baby,” he murmured, going in for one last kiss before he nuzzled his nose into her hair and breathed in the scent of her perfume. It was something else he could commit to memory; another fragment of his Skye that would get him through the coming days away, until he could hold her in his arms once more.

“I should be back the day before Christmas Eve,” he reiterated. Skye smirked beneath him, a cheeky quirk of her lips that had him forgetting how upset she’d seemed only minutes before. Her emotions could ebb and flow like the tide, which had nothing to do with being Inhuman and everything to do with her past, Ward had come to realise. He’d discovered a while back that he’d been very similar to Skye as a teenager, and it was only under Garrett’s iron fist that he’d perfected the art of self-control. Although that had undoubtedly helped him to get a handle on his powers faster than most would have, he couldn’t quite find it within himself to be grateful to his late mentor for anything.

“Stay with me tonight,” he breathed, holding her gaze as he teased her lips with kisses, craving the feel of skin against skin.

Skye merely murmured, arching into his touch and grappling still to pull his shirt over his head. Fingernails trailing the hard muscle of his back, she stretched out underneath him, responding with kisses that they shared long into the night.

**x-x-x**

**17** ** th  ** **December 2015**

“I vote for chocolate Yule log.”

“Christmas pudding! It’s tradition, Fitz.”

“Who gives an elf’s arse about tradition when nobody can stand bloody dried fruit cake?”

“That’s Christmas cake, not Christmas pudding. Really, Fitz, if you’re going to be an uncultured swine about it all then we may as well order Taco Bell for Christmas dinner.”

Skye let the bickering of her two dearest friends wash over her. Although she chewed on her bottom lip and made all the right noises of concern at exactly the right moments, she couldn’t claim to care about their quarrel in the slightest. As long as Ward made it back in time for Christmas Eve, she didn’t care whether they dined on Cheetos or starved all day. However, she couldn’t admit as much to FitzSimmons, and so she chose to keep quiet. They’d tire themselves out eventually, she knew from experience. All she had to do was wait and be careful not to be drawn too far into the row. She was combating that perspective danger by keeping her nose buried in her cell phone as she waited for word from Grant, who should have arrived at his drop point hours before. She remained calm, despite the lack of contact, knowing that the mission would take precedence over messaging his girlfriend, as it should.

“What do you think, Skye?”

She groaned internally, tearing her gaze from the screen and fixing it instead on Simmons’ face. The scientist was staring at her, obviously seeking some sort of opinion on the upcoming festivities.

“Uhm… yeah… totally…” Skye stammered. She punctuated her own inept answer with an ill-concealed wince.

Simmons’ eyes narrowed to slits and she heaved a sigh that suggested she was deeply offended by Skye’s lack of commitment.

“You think we should serve roast ‘uhm, yeah, totally’?” Simmons glared at her friend, arms folding across her chest to demonstrate her irritation further. “Fitz, note that down. Three for turkey, two for beef, and one for ‘uhm, yeah, totally’.”

Skye winced, rubbing her forehead for effect as she apologised. “Sorry, Jem. I guess I didn’t sleep so well last night.”

Simmons shot Fitz a pointed glance, one eyebrow arched in something that resembled amusement. “Oh, whatever kept you awake?”

Fitz hid his smirk behind a cough, although he watched with amusement as Skye scrambled for a reply.

“Oh, you know… like… nightmares. And…stuff,” Skye shrugged non-committedly whilst picking at invisible lint on her shirt.

Had she been less absorbed by Ward’s unknown mission status, she’d have spotted the pointed glances and chuckles that the scientists shared at her expense.

“Aye,” Fitz agreed, feigning sympathy as he continued, “all that time you’ve been spending with Ward lately was bound to take its toll, eh?!”

“Oh, absolutely.” Jemma nodded in ready agreement, placing her hand over Skye’s and adopting the most supportive expression she could muster, without breaking into a smirk. “It must be hard… so very hard. Enough to make you scream.”

Skye paused in fumbling with the phone secreted in her jeans pocket to award Jemma a bemused, slightly cautious glance. She was certain she’d felt the device vibrate against her hip, but she felt under too much scrutiny to dare to examine it.

“Eh, did you hear those foxes last night? Bloody randy buggers! Screeching all night long!” Fitz teased, enjoying Skye’s complete obliviousness to the fact that her relationship with Ward had been rumbled some months ago.

Jemma snorted with laughter, which she managed to conceal behind a feigned sneeze that she found herself having to repeat when Skye dropped her phone and stared in evident horror at Fitz.

Jemma nodded her head sympathetically. “Yes. I imagine they’re unsettled by all of the seismic activity we’ve experienced around here lately.”

Skye stared down at her own palms, and a somewhat confused apology tumbled from her lips before she could bite it back.

“Sorry?” It came out more as a question than a statement, and FitzSimmons barely managed to contain their delight.

“Oh it’s quite alright, we know you’re still getting used to your powers,” Jemma assuaged her, apparently taking pity on her friend at long last.

“Although,” she continued, drawing Skye’s eyes back to her perfectly schooled features, “if you fancy talking over the potential triggers, just pop down to the lab and I can give it all a thorough going over with you.”

Growing red cheeked from the continued conversation, Skye scooped up her cell phone as inconspicuously as she could before rising to her feet.

“I… I’m going to… I have some stuff… hacking stuff… I have to look over…” she explained, offering a smile as an afterthought. Without waiting for a response from either of the scientists, she darted from the lounge and down the corridor. She could have sworn she heard cackling following her but she was far more concerned with the potential message on her cell, which was burning a hole in her pocket.

She reached the safety of her room and slammed the door behind her, leaning against it for good measure, just in case of potential intrusion. Most people knocked beforehand but she definitely didn’t want to risk Bobby or May walking in and catching her leafing through messages from Ward. If it was Ward that had messaged her in the first place. From the way her heartbeat picked up and her palms grew sweaty, she knew that was the outcome she was hoping for.

Relief washed over her in waves as she read the brief yet much desired message on her screen underneath his name. She had resigned herself to deleting all evidence of their tryst but, seeing those two simple lines, she found herself unable to do it.

“He’s okay, he’s safe,” she murmured out loud, exhaling the breath she was sure she’d been holding since he slipped from her arms, and their shared bed, in the early hours of the morning.

Her fingers moved across the keys as she typed out a reply, and her lips twitched into a smile as she prepared to hit ‘send’.

‘ _Be safe._ _I love you, too_.’

**X-x-x**

**19** ** th  ** **December 2015**

The briefing had overrun by fifteen minutes and Skye had seriously started to debate the merits of jamming a S.H.I.E.L.D. issue pencil into her own eye versus listening to Coulson prattle on about overspending on the entertainment budget.

“So, if we could all just reuse the coffee filters a couple of times then I estimate we can save an extra two dollars a week. Now that might not sound like much, but do the annual math and I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”

Skye stared down at the notepaper in front of her and continued to doodle coffee cups and kittens in the margin. Coulson’s voice droned on in the background but she’d lost the inclination or ability to focus on it. Instead, she attempted to perfect the technique of drawing cartoon cat eyes with her prospective murder weapon.

“Agent Skye.”

The sound of her own name wrenched her back to reality and Skye jumped as her pencil clattered from her fingers.

“Do you have anything to add?” Coulson peered at her, brow furrowed, his expression conveying that he was aware he’d busted her in the act of inattentiveness. The amused gazes of FitzSimmons, Morse, Triplett, and Hunter also rested upon her, whilst May glowered from the corner. If there was one thing the Cavalry hated above all others, it was Coulson’s expenses meetings being drawn out by her team mates’ short attention spans. Admittedly, Skye was the worst culprit.

“Huh? What? I… uh… huh?” Skye stammered, looking up from her note pad finally.

Surreptitiously, Skye reached for the pencil she’d dropped. Her eyes flicked to each of her colleagues as she offered them what she hoped was a winning smile.

Arching an eyebrow, Coulson regarded her, his tone tainted with parental concern. “Skye, is everything alright? You seem distracted.”

Skye gaped for a moment, shrugging as she placed the pencil back atop the pad. “Me? Yeah. I’m good. Great.”

Coulson’s expression indicated he didn’t quite believe her, but he returned his focus to the tablet in his hand despite his concerns. There was a Captain America documentary on CBS that he’d been dying to watch, and the meeting had already considerably overrun.

“Alright, so… I got word from Agent Ward this morning.”

At this, Skye perked up and her attention seemed devoted to the Director.

“Ward? You did? He’s okay?”

Suddenly sensing eyes upon her, she back-tracked. “I mean, you know… I don’t care. But, it’s… it’s good that he’s… I mean, the mission... is going… going well. I guess. You know, if I cared. Which… I don’t.”

Coulson pursed his lips, scrutinising Skye from over the top of his tablet, before he turned to address the room again.

“The mission is progressing as expected, and if his team continue to make good headway, they should return at 08:00 hours on December 23 rd .”

“Goody,” Hunter drawled, slumping back in his chair. He shot a glare at their Director, which communicated his complete indifference on the matter of Agent Ward, and whether he may or may not return in time for the festive period.

Skye barely managed to contain her scowl, but she couldn’t thwart the dirty look she directed at her fellow agent, who remained oblivious. He was far too busy ogling his ex-wife whilst she leaned across the table in her low cut blouse to reach for the coffee pot.

“Anyway, I think that’s about everything on the agenda for today.”

Coulson had barely formed the words and Skye was on her feet, shoving papers into her bag as she scrambled to clear her space at the briefing table.

“And I can see that some of us are already beyond excited for Christmas,” drawled Coulson, “but please let’s keep in mind that we still have a few more days before the base shuts down for the holidays. In short, everybody, focus… please?”

“Totally. Totally focused,” Skye assured him, all but bounding out of the conference room. Her nerves had been somewhat calmed by Coulson’s revelation that Ward had been in contact with him that day. Skye had yet to hear from him and, although she understood the importance of Ward keeping his mind and focus on the job, she desperately wanted to know he was okay. And, as much as she was loathed to admit it to herself, she needed to know he was thinking of her.

“Skye?” Simmons called, jogging after her friend as she tried to catch up with the former hacker. “Fitz and I are going to make some popcorn and watch Christmas films, you’re very welcome to join us if you’d like?!”

Simmons’ smile was genuine, and Skye heard herself readily agreeing. She could, after all, do with taking her mind off worrying about her boyfriend and his black-ops mission.

“Excellent!” Simmons enthused, rubbing her hands together. “I might even break out the chocolate oranges my mum sent me. It is almost Christmas, after all!”

Skye was poised to reply when the silent vibration of her phone against her hip bone caused her to jump.

Simmons narrowed her eyes, taken aback. “Good Lord, are you alright?”

“Uh… yeah. Yeah. It’s uh… you know, sciatica,” Skye lied, patting her rear and wincing for effect.

Simmons’ brow furrowed as she peered back at her friend, whose smile hid a multitude of sins. She had just opened her mouth to press Skye further when the other woman beat her to the punch.

“I’ll see you guys in the TV room. I have to run back to my room real quick,” Skye explained in a slightly breathy rush. “I have to… water my… cactus.”

Leaving Simmons with no time to question her, Skye turned tail and practically fled at speed down the corridor. Jemma attempted to call after her, suspicion aroused, but she found herself staring at Skye’s retreating back before she’d had time to form the woman’s name on her lips.

Skye rounded the corner and searched desperately for some quiet nook in which to answer her cell phone, which continued to vibrate against her thigh. The only options she found open to her was a broom cupboard and a male bathroom. Deciding that the latter was far more likely to be crowded than the former, Skye wrenched open the closet door and tumbled into the darkness beside the mops.

“Ward… hello… Grant… yes?” Skye babbled in a rush, her heart pounding against her ribcage as she raised the cell to her ear. The relief at hearing his voice was immense.

“Skye? I don’t have long, I just… I guess I wanted to hear your voice,” Ward admitted, only barely audible over the hissing and crackling distorting the line.

“Are you okay?” Skye demanded, closing her eyes and sliding down the door to the floor.

“I’m fine. Look, I can’t talk for long. Things haven’t exactly gone to plan here today so I need to lay low for a few hours.”

“Are you hurt? Are you in trouble? Grant?” Skye hissed, her tone laced with new concern.

“I’m fine,” Ward promised, and Skye nodded vehemently in relief despite the fact Ward couldn’t actually see her. She wished with all her heart and soul that he could; that he could meet her eyes with his, and see the sheer need for him reflected there. Ward had never truly known what it meant to have someone who loved him, cherished him, above all others, and Skye wanted him to realise what exactly it was that he’d found with her. It might have been early days as far as their relationship was concerned, but Skye had never been more sure of anything in her life. Grant had been there for her over the past year in a way that no one else had been able to; guiding her, counselling her, training her, and simply holding her when she struggled with the weight of what she had become. He understood her on levels she’d never considered possible, and that wasn’t just because of their suddenly shared status as Inhumans. Their pasts were similarly complex - had inflicted scars on them both that would never fully heal - and Ward was the only person left in the world that Skye felt comfortable bearing her soul to.

“I miss you.”

He was the first to say it, and Skye felt her breath hitch at the revelation. She’d been planning on declaring similar to him and yet his admission had her freezing against the wall, her fingers tightening on the phone until her knuckles turned white.

“I wish you were home,” she whispered in return and, although her ears had to strain to detect it, she heard the groan that Ward released. He sounded stressed, probably tired, and certainly fed up, but Skye thought that perhaps he was also learning what it meant to experience homesickness.

Ward had spent the year trying to make amends, and proving that he was more than his past - more than the damage his parents and Garrett had inflicted on him. Skye wanted him to know that to her, at least, he was everything.

“Me too,” he murmured. “Four days. I’ll be back in four days.”

Skye wasn’t sure if he was trying to sound reassuring for her benefit or his own.

“Promise?” Skye interrupted, her hand rubbing at her neck and her teeth worrying her bottom lip. She ached to touch him and to be touched by him - to experience the plethora of emotions she felt in his embrace; desire, hunger, completeness, and, perhaps the most over-powering of all, love.

“I promise,” he vowed. “There’s nothing else I want but to be there with you.”

“Me too.” Skye grinned through her reply. “You know, it’s been pretty quiet round here since you’ve been away. None of those pesky earthquakes that have rattled everyone for the last few months. Weird, huh?!”

Ward chuckled and Skye felt her stomach clench with both affection and longing.

“Is that so?” he checked, and she could hear the desire in his voice, perhaps laced with a hint of pride. “Well, we’ll have to fix that when I get back.”

Skye’s smile widened at his inference. “Why, Agent Ward, all this talk of seismic activity will make a girl blush!”

The line crackled fiercely, drowning out Ward’s response, and Skye sighed in annoyance. When the call cleared enough for her to hear the sound of Ward’s voice again, she could detect a note of remorse there.

“Baby, I have to go,” he said, and Skye dropped her head back to thunk against the wall. By her side, a broom that had been leaning against a shelf clattered to the floor, disturbed by her movements.

“Okay, I guess I’ll see you soon, then?” Skye knew that her question sounded faintly desperate but she couldn’t find it within herself to care as much as she might once have. She missed Ward more than she’d deemed possible, and this first separation in over twelve months was proving far more difficult than she’d anticipated. She was almost frightened to admit how dependant they’d become upon each other, at a time when their fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had all but turned their backs on them.

A year ago she couldn’t have anticipated forgiving him for his betrayal of the team. But then she’d wandered down into that chamber in San Juan, and her entire world had been turned upside down. Ward viewed his own shocking transformation as his punishment, begging the team to ‘put him down’, uncertain if he could ever live as the physical embodiment of the monster he’d become under Garrett’s thrall. Nevertheless, Coulson had given him a second chance, and Ward had relished the opportunity to become the man he’d always wanted to be; the man Skye deserved. Grant could compartmentalise and control his emotions, which in turn meant it hadn’t taken him long to master his powers. Eventually, he’d helped Skye gain control of hers, in effect once more becoming her S.O., then her friend, and, more recently, her lover.

“You will,” Ward vowed with renewed urgency before he added, “I love you.”

The reply left her lips instantaneously and, mere seconds after her whispered ‘I love you’, the line was cut dead. She was left with nothing but silence on the other end of the phone.

Climbing to her feet, Skye slid her cell back into her pocket and took a moment to compose herself. Running her hands through her hair, she blew out an unsteady breath, trying to compose herself ready for an evening of movies and small talk. Just a few more days, she told herself. She could do that.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, chapter 2! We promise that we did in fact finish this fic several days ago, we just needed time to edit. Chapter 3 will be up in the next day or so, complete with an epilogue.
> 
> Thank you again to everyone who's read and commented. And we wish you all a happy and healthy 2020!

** 21 ** ** st ** ** December 2015 **

Skye had spent the majority of the day in her room, forfeiting both lunch and dinner, which had Simmons practically battering down her door by early evening. However, it wasn’t just missing Ward that had driven Skye into hiding; she’d awoken in the early hours of the morning from a particularly gruelling nightmare - one involving both her father and mother - and found the very foundations of the base rocking under a subconscious assault from her powers. Much to her own chagrin, Skye had panicked in the absence of Ward; the one constant she’d come to rely on to steady and calm her. Without him whispering soothing words in her ear and wrapping his arms around her body until she was pressed snug to his chest, Skye had found herself all at sea. When she’d bolted upright, sweat coursing down her brow, and the walls trembling around her, she’d simply dissolved into tears and chosen to bolt her door before anyone could come in search of her. As it turned out, Coulson chose to anyway, but Skye had valiantly ignored him for a full hour before he’d elected to shuffle back to his room and leave her to her mental breakdown in peace. If only he’d known, Skye had thought morosely, that it was Ward that had sneaked into her bed to soothe her all those nights before. Perhaps he’d have given a second thought to the mission he’d sent him away on. 

Skye knew that it wasn’t only Ward’s absence that had unsettled her, but also the last conversation they’d had together. Grant had hinted that the mission had been spiralling out of his team’s control, and Skye had been turning that titbit of information over in her mind ever since. Her anxiety had spiralled to the point that she’d imagined several worst case scenarios for them, most of which ended with Ward chained in a basement somewhere, being tortured by a guy in an apron with a blowtorch. She assumed that her worry had spilled over into her dreams and conjured up a vicious nightmare to haunt her, inflaming the whole situation. 

May had come knocking at her door when it became apparent that she was going to miss their evening workout session, but Skye had blown her off with claims of a migraine that weren’t strictly a lie.

Rubbing at her temples, she pressed her face into the soft fabric of her pillows and inhaled the remaining traces of Ward’s cologne. Skye hugged a pillow tighter, closing her eyes and allowing the familiar scent to soothe her nerves. It wasn’t that she’d become a neurotic girlfriend, but having your boyfriend sent on a mission in God knows where, doing God knows what, to God knows who, was bound to unnerve even the calmest mind. There was also the lingering worry that, even after his rehabilitation and clean slate with the team, S.H.I.E.L.D. perhaps viewed the Specialist as disposable. She knew this mission had to be a test, ordered from those higher up in the food chain than Coulson. 

“Get it together, Skye,” she muttered, punching the pillow and then sprawling out over it. Her gaze suddenly ticked to her laptop screen, where a ringing tone alerted her to an incoming video call. 

Scrambling to sit up, Skye hauled her computer onto her lap and hit the ‘connect’ button. Her brow creased as she was met with a fuzzy, indecipherable image. However, soon, the interference resolved, allowing her to glimpse the impossibly handsome face of Grant Ward. 

The first thing she noted was that he hadn’t shaved for a number of days, and then her eyes were drawn to the dark circles staining his skin, which suggested he hadn’t had the opportunity to sleep for quite some time. 

“Are you alright?” she demanded, frowning instantly instead of offering Grant her trademark smile. She managed to stop herself from reaching out to the screen and caressing his image, despite how desperately she wanted to. 

“Hey, I’m fine,” Ward soothed. He did his best to rouse a smile but Skye wasn’t fooled by the charade. He looked exhausted, and the forced quirk of his lips didn’t help to convince her otherwise. 

“The mission?” pressed Skye. She leaned closer to the laptop screen, hugging her arms around herself. The room trembled slightly, sending a shower of plaster raining down from the ceiling, and Skye closed her eyes to regulate herself. After slowly drawing in a few breaths and blowing them out, the tremulous rocking calmed, and Skye reopened her eyes. She found Ward staring at her, an eyebrow quirked in questioning, and a frown twisting his lips. 

“Bad night?” he guessed, and Skye nodded, loathed to elaborate when Grant was under enough stress being out in the field. 

“I guess it’s just not the same without my awesome S.O.” She smiled almost shyly, barely managing to stifle the yawn she felt brewing. 

Ward’s smile was this time genuine, and he stared at her for a moment with an almost wistful expression on his face. “It’s so good to see your face, Skye.”

This time, she didn’t fight the urge to reach out and touch the screen. She leant forward to gently brush her fingertips over his image. Catching the almost melancholy look on his face, Skye attempted to lighten the moment. 

“Bet it’s good to see these babies too, huh?” She grinned, gesturing down to her cleavage, which was barely contained by the tank top she’d slept in. 

Ward laughed, arching a dark eyebrow as he made a show of casting an approving gaze over her figure. 

“I have missed them,” he allowed, delighted to see Skye’s chuckle light up her weary face. 

“You look tired, baby. I’m gonna go and let you get some sleep,” Ward offered, leaning on the table in front of him and peering at her intently. “I’ll be home before you know it.”

“No, don’t go. Not yet,” Skye pleaded, this time unable to stem the tide of the yawns that overwhelmed her. 

Deliberating for only a moment, Ward smiled at his girlfriend then acquiesced to her demand with a nod. “Lay down, and… I’ll talk to you until you fall asleep.”

Skye cocked her head, regarding him hopefully. “Are you sure? You don’t have like, super spy stuff you need to be doing? Wait, what if I start snoring, or like… drooling?!”

Ward chuckled, unable to resist the urge to taunt Skye as he quipped, “Nothing I haven’t been subjected to before.”

Skye poked her tongue out at the computer screen, secretly delighted when Ward dissolved into laughter and she watched some of the strain melt away from his features. Once his mirth had subsided, Ward gestured again to Skye, his intent clear. 

“Come on, lay down,” he encouraged. “Trust me, I wish I could be there right beside you.”

Skye settled back against the pillows and carefully readjusted the laptop so that it occupied the space beside her head at the top of the bed. 

“I don’t have to sing or anything, do I?” Grant asked, pleased when he prompted another smirk from his girlfriend. 

“Not unless you’re taking requests.” She sighed contentedly the moment her head hit the pillow, and she allowed her eyes to flutter closed. “Just talk to me.”

Ward watched his girlfriend lying down almost peacefully, seeking the reassurance he was all too happy to give her. It was an alien yet thoroughly amazing feeling - to be wanted and needed.

“G’night, Grant,” Skye murmured, voice thick with impending sleep.

“Night, baby.” He replied, staring at her as he deliberated over what to say to soothe her to sleep. Eventually, he decided on talking over their Christmas plans, outlining the day down to the letter, and doing his best to temper his excitement so that his voice was a calming purr.

Within minutes, the even rise and fall of Skye’s chest alerted Ward to the fact she was finally sleeping. He watched her in silence for a few moments before disconnecting the call. It was the last thing he wanted to do but the mission required his full attention and focus if he hoped to make it back home in time, as he’d vowed repeatedly to do.

Skye managed to sleep through until morning and, much to her relief, she wasn’t plagued by a single nightmare, or overwhelmed by negative thoughts. She couldn’t wait to tell Grant, who still feared that he somehow wasn’t good for her. Skye couldn’t help but disagree. Even if nobody else could admit it, she knew that Ward wasn’t just a positive influence in her life, he was everything she needed. 

** x-x-x **

** 23 ** ** rd ** ** December 2015 **

Ward had gone dark. He’d dropped off the face of the earth, seemingly, leaving Coulson completely in the lurch. Worse still, Skye was in pieces, barely able to hold it together long enough to fix herself a cup of coffee, let alone make it through a team meeting. And yet Coulson was asking it of her anyway. It wasn’t that he wished to be cruel, but he figured it would be far better to brainstorm potential extractions or full blown rescue missions with another Inhuman, and his best analyst, present. Even if she was finding it increasingly difficult to focus on anything bar her boyfriend’s whereabouts and safety. 

Finally, their latest meeting had ended, and Skye hadn’t even bothered to make a pantomime of the fact that she was anything but terrified as she sat alone in the common room, staring at her phone as if sheer will alone was enough to make it ring. Thankfully, Hunter and Morse had left for their own holiday excursion earlier that morning, so she didn’t have to contend with smart ass comments and not-so-veiled snipes.

It was Jemma that found her, as the scientist bounded into the room with a box full of Christmas decorations intended for the tree that Fitz had assembled that morning. 

This time, Jemma felt nothing but pity for her friend, and her previously teasing manner morphed into one of sympathy. When she and Fitz had first found out that Skye and Ward were sleeping together, they had assumed that it was little more than a physical relationship. You’d have to be blind to miss the chemistry and sexual tension simmering away between the pair but, in the last few weeks - and certainly over the last few days - Simmons had become convinced that she’d gotten it wrong. Skye was once again in love with Grant Ward, and her fears over his recent departure were palpable.

Jemma took a seat at Skye’s side, placing the box on the floor by her feet for the moment. 

“Still no word, eh?” she asked, smiling kindly at the hacker, who looked up at her friend with eyes that were red rimmed and raw.

Not even attempting to deny her feelings any longer, Skye shook her head. 

“Nope. Nothing. What if… what if something went wrong , Jem ? What if he’s…” she swallowed down her words as if they physically pained her. “What if he’s hurt, or… or…”

“Oh, Skye. I’m sure Ward is fine,” Jemma replied, leaning her head back against the sofa. She took a moment to deliberate over how best to comfort Skye, given that she was refusing to acknowledge that she and Ward were in a relationship; whatever form it had taken. 

Casting a sideways glance at Skye, Jemma ventured hesitantly, “Do you know one of the reasons I’ve found it so hard to forgive Ward for betraying us?” 

She heard Skye sigh almost irritably, but she continued on anyway, needing to purge her thoughts. 

“Because before it all happened, before that awful Hydra business, being around Ward and knowing he was on our team, fighting on our side, made me feel safe. Even back then, before he had powers, Ward was absolutely bloody lethal out there in the field! So now, with his powers too, well… frankly I pity whoever goes up against him. And, of course, he has something to come home to, doesn’t he? Someone, I mean.”

Skye gulped, attempting an innocent expression as she peered at Simmons. She knew she’d failed miserably by the snort of amusement her friend awarded her.

“Oh come on, there’s no point even trying to keep up the rouse now,” scoffed Jemma, but not unkindly. She reached across the space separating them and captured Skye’s hand in her own before giving it a squeeze.

“How long have you known?” Skye almost tripped over her own words but she managed to force the question from her mouth by deliberately looking away from Jemma. 

“Oh, at least three months,” said Jemma, waving a dismissive hand. “Long enough to be angry over it, come to terms with it, and accept it.”

“Who else knows?” Skye felt her stomach dip at the prospect of being forced to tell the rest of the team about her relationship with Grant at a time when he wasn’t present to back her up. Deep down, she truly wanted everyone to know - for there to be no more toxic secrets between them. However, she didn’t relish the idea of weathering the fall-out from such a revelation alone. 

“ Well, Fitz and I know. I think May suspects… I’m not entirely sure about Coulson.  How long has it been going on for?” asked Jemma, and Skye breathed a sigh of relief that they’d at least managed to keep some aspect of their relationship as private as they’d hoped. 

“About eight months.”

Jemma nodded in acceptance, her face not betraying a single drop of the anger or betrayal that both Skye and Ward had expected whenever they’d discussed coming clean to the others. Chewing on her bottom lip, Jemma removed her hand from Skye’s grip and patted her knee. 

“I’m surprised, actually.  I thought it was a bit longer than that ,” she revealed, shrugging her shoulders with unbelievable nonchalance, as though she’d just lost a card game or something as equally trivial.

Staring down at her lap, Skye shook her head. “After San Juan… we were friends. He… he was the only one who wasn’t afraid of me. He didn’t treat me like I was a monster.”

Simmons blanched, and Skye imagined - or possibly hoped - that she was reliving her treatment of her friend with something akin to guilt. 

“I’m sorry, Skye, I… I was wrong, and… and it was so very…”

“Doesn’t matter now,” Skye said. “But Ward never left my side, Jemma. He was there through all of it, even when I went crazy at him and lost control of my powers, he was there with me. Coulson gave him a second chance, so I figured I could too. ” Skye lifted her eyes to meet Jemma’s gaze, her expression demanding that Simmons see the truth in her admission. 

“I never intended to fall for Ward, I swear. It’s just that every day, it became harder and harder to hate him. I didn’t mean for it to happen, but it did, and…  _ I love him, Jemma _ .” 

She tailed off helplessly. Skye couldn’t help but wonder if this had always been fate’s intention for her and Grant Ward. 

Simmons nodded, managing a smile that seemed genuine. “Well then, that’s all that matters. We can’t help who we love. As long as you feel you can trust him, and as long as he makes you happy, then I suppose it’s really nobody else’s business, is it?!”

Skye remained silent in place of supplying an answer, although she knew she really should. Simmons was being more than understanding in the face of her lies and omissions, and she was owed more than a morose nod of thanks. However, she couldn’t find it within herself to be animated over anything with the prospect of Grant’s life hanging in the balance dogging her. 

“What if…” Skye began, swallowing hard as she nearly choked on her own words, “what if he never comes back?”

Jemma sat up a little straighter, shaking her head and doubling the pressure on Skye’s hand.

“Don’t think like that,” ordered Simmons. Her tone was firm yet kind, providing exactly what Sky needed most. “If what’s written in his files is to be believed, Ward has waited a very long time indeed for what he has now; someone to look past all his mistakes, and his weaknesses, and to love him for them regardless. I don’t believe he’d allow himself to be bested, to lose all that . He’s been different these last few months with you. I think that, perhaps, you’ve given him a reason to want to be a better person, as well as the chance to make that happen. He’s coming home.”

Brow furrowed, Skye regarded her friend with relief but also a hint of suspicion. “How come you’re not like… freaking out over this? I mean, you’re being weirdly cool about it.”

Jemma spoke through a slightly superior smile. “Well, maybe I am just that cool, eh?”

Meeting Skye’s glower with a huff, Simmons doubled down on her efforts to be a supportive friend, which was something she had come to regret falling short of in the past. 

“Look, Skye, it’s been a difficult time for you lately, what with your parents, and… and… you know… all of that San Juan business. If you’re happy now then I’m glad. Even if it is with Ward.”

This time, Skye consented to laugh, relieved to receive a somewhat more truthful and characteristically ‘Simmons’ reply. Eyes in her lap, she found her next words practically lodged in her throat, and her voice faded to little more than a whisper. 

“It’s been over 24 hours.”

Jemma regarded her friend with genuine sympathy shining in her green eyes. 

“I know,” she said softly.

The two women sat, side by side, in undisturbed silence for a few moments, before Simmons closed the distance between them and gathered the Inhuman into her arms. She crushed Skye to her chest, her embrace warm and her fingers gentle as they wove through her friend’s hair. Jemma could feel the somewhat frantic beating of Skye’s heart against her own body, and she frowned in concern. There was nothing more she could say or do to ease Skye’s fears. They could only sit and wait for news, hoping against all odds that they would be granted the outcome they wanted. Jemma couldn’t imagine a worse Christmas for Skye than one spent pondering the fate of her AWOL lover. She was certain that, being an orphan with a chequered past, Skye had had enough joyless, bleak Christmases to last a lifetime. 

“Why don’t you come and watch some more films with me and Fitz, hmm? Try to take your mind off things,” suggested Jemma, drawing away from Skye and holding her at arms-length in order to examine her. She reached out and swept a stray lock of hair from her friend’s face, before offering her an encouraging smile. 

Thinking it over, and deciding that it was probably a better idea than sprawling listlessly on her bed, Skye nodded her agreement. She’d already taken out her frustration on the punching bag that morning, and she was still nursing the cuts and bruises on her knuckles to prove it. 

“Sure, that sounds nice.” Meeting Jemma’s smile with a much weaker twitch of her lips, Skye paused a second before asking, “So Fitz… he knows?”

Jemma rolled her eyes as the pair stood up from the couch. “Oh Skye, you two are not nearly as stealthy as you’d like to believe.”

The amused giggle the scientist emitted made Skye slightly uncomfortable, but she decided not to investigate any further. At least Coulson and May seemed unaware of her relationship with Ward, and Simmons had assured Skye that she wouldn’t be the one to blow their cover to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Director. 

The two women stopped off at the kitchen to raid the cupboard for as many snacks as they could carry before heading to Fitz’s room to begin another movie marathon. Apparently, it was a long - standing tradition for the science duo to watch as many holiday themed movies as they could throughout December. 

Skye’s spirits weren’t exactly lifted but she had resolved to try to stop thinking the worst. Sometimes, she reminded herself sternly, no news could be good news. 

Round the corner, seconded in a darkened stretch of hallway, Agent May fixed Coulson with a smug look that did nothing but fuel his rising ire.

“I told you six months ago, but you didn’t listen,” she chided, brushing past him and heading back to the break room. They had been standing outside the door for only a few moments when Skye and Simmons’ less than hushed conversation had reached their ears. Before she’d had a chance to process what she was hearing – which came as no real shock to her, anyway – May had found herself being manhandled down the corridor by the Director. She had spent the next few minutes glaring at him and massaging the forming bruises on the top of her arm as he ranted at her about Ward’s lack of suitability for Skye, and the Inhuman pair’s flouting of various S.H.I.E.L.D. rules. 

“How can you be so calm about this?” demanded Coulson, and he cringed just a fraction when May whirled back around to face him. Her expression was stony, giving very little away, but her eyes had darkened, and he suspected he was in for a rather unpleasant reality check. Agent Melinda May was perhaps the only member of S.H.I.E.L.D. who could get away with giving the Director a regular tongue lashing. Coulson was certain he deserved it at least three quarters of the time. 

“Do you want me to shoot him? Or I guess I could break his neck for you? How about I lock Skye up in Vault D instead?” She stared at Coulson, one eyebrow raised in questioning, and her hand planted on her hip. 

Coulson’s lips drew into a line, and he folded his arms across his chest, perhaps partially in a defensive stance against May’s murderous glaring. 

“No, no. I…” He sighed, rolling his eyes and peering up at the ceiling as if looking for divine inspiration as to how to deal with the latest crisis within his ranks. At least, he thought it perhaps counted as a crisis. It would need further evaluation before he could ascertain how much of an issue this dalliance would prove to be. 

“If this… whatever it is… has been going on for months, I didn’t even notice.” He paused, frowning as he contemplated how he could have missed the signs when lower ranking agents apparently hadn’t.

“I did,” May took the opportunity to remind him. She mirrored his stance and crossed her arms, her face like thunder. 

“But what do we do, May?” Coulson asked helplessly. “If I try to separate them, Skye will more than likely leave, and Ward… well, I’m not sure I can cut him lose. Fury wanted him watched, and if I cut him from the team, who knows what he’d get up to.”

“Well, I guess we know exactly what he’s been up to for the last few months.”

Coulson continued on, undeterred, as if he was simply speaking aloud the internal reasoning that was going on inside his head. 

“And honestly? Ward’s not done anything to make me question his loyalty. In fact, he’s proven himself as an asset to the team. I don’t know, May. Do we just look the other way? Pretend not to know? I mean, is denial like that even healthy in such a close knit team? Should I talk to Skye? Maybe you should talk to her?”

May practically recoiled at the idea, and Coulson winced as he half expected her to round on him again. 

“Oh no, you’re not making me the bad guy in this situation,” snapped May. She spoke with such vehemence that Coulson didn’t dare remind her that he was in the actual fact the boss, and could make her do whatever he so pleased, within reason. He doubted he’d survive that sort of transgression. 

“If I just leave it then I’m sending a message, that…” he began, finding himself silenced by an eye roll from May. 

“You’re sending a message that you’re the kind of Director who values his team’s happiness. One who realises the importance of having people you genuinely care about to watch your six, and to come home to.”

Coulson closed his mouth, cocking his head as he observed his perhaps most trusted agent, and oldest friend. 

“So Skye and Ward are together. Bobby and Hunter are on and off again like a damn light switch, and FitzSimmons are probably only half a bottle of cheap Scotch away from…”

“I implore you not to finish that sentence,” interjected Coulson. His pupils had blown so wide at the horrifying thought that May took pity on him and chose not to continue. Instead, she took a step forward and grasped his elbow, positioning herself so that she could peer straight into his eyes. She found uncertainty and the slightest tinge of fear reflected back at her, and she knew she couldn’t blame the Director after the way Ward’s previous betrayal had thrown them all for a loop. However, it was because of the man before her that May had come to believe in second chances, and she was a wise enough woman to realise that that line of thinking had to include one Grant Ward as well. The act of forgiving was not an easy one, but it was something May strived at daily, because Lord knew that they’d all somehow done each other wrong in one way or another, at one time or another. Even she had once betrayed Coulson by secretly keeping tabs on him for Fury, and yet she’d been welcomed back into the Director’s ranks with open arms. The team had worked hard at pulling together, putting aside past transgressions, and forming a family of sorts that would carry them all through the very darkest of times. As much as she may want to punch his smug, handsome face, May had come to recognise that Ward deserved the same opportunity, the same benevolence, as them all. If Skye could be trusted and valued in the wake of her Rising Tide connections, and her misguided tryst with Miles, then they could at least give Ward the chance to try to make up for his Hydra affiliations at the bequest of John Garret. Not to mention the fact that Ward had been the one thing that had kept Skye sane following the development of her powers. There had been times during those early months that May had genuinely worried for the young Inhuman, who seemed to be teetering so precariously on the knife’s edge that May had been afraid she would do something drastic. She had never been scared of Skye, but she had most definitely been scared for her, and what she might do to avoid hurting anyone with the uncontrollable abilities she’d so suddenly been granted. 

“Alright.” Coulson blew out an unsteady breath, nodding his head as he weighed up May’s appraisal of the situation. “Alright. So we do nothing.” 

He nodded more vigorously before suddenly pausing and looking back at her for confirmation. “But are we doing nothing and pretending we don’t know, or doing nothing but letting them know that we know? I’m uncertain what you’re suggesting here.”

May began to jostle Coulson towards his office. He yelped at her somewhat heavy handed jabbing but allowed her steer him out of earshot nonetheless. 

“What I’m saying, Philip…” she said, noting with a smirk of amusement how he cowed to her use of his full name, “is that we leave them alone to figure it out. We don’t play dumb, but we don’t ask them about it. Don’t ask, don’t tell.”

“Don’t ask, don’t tell,” repeated Coulson, but it was clear he wasn’t entirely sold on the idea. However, Melinda May had spoken and it was unlikely that Coulson would find it within himself to go against her advice. After all, she was right three quarters of the time. 

** x-x-x **

Out of the corner of his eye, Coulson had watched Skye mope around base for the rest of the day. Whenever he’d thought she’d been poised to crack a smile or chuckle at one of Fitz’s quips, she’d seemed to suddenly remember Ward’s absence, and the light had faded from her eyes so quickly that it was alarming. Coulson had begun to worry for her; clearly, she was in over her head with Ward, and he wasn’t sure how he’d managed to miss it. Perhaps he’d been too involved of late with other S.H.I.E.L.D. business, or preoccupied with recruitment, which was at an all-time low in the wake of the whole mess with Hydra. As much as it pained Coulson to admit it, he thought he might attribute some of the distance that had formed between him and Skye to the emergence of her powers. He was undeniably on edge around her of late, constantly worried that she’d lose control again and his beloved, newly rebuilt HQ would end up raining down on their heads courtesy of her volatile abilities. He was somewhat ashamed to say that he’d started to view Skye less as a surrogate daughter and more as an unstable asset, which should be treated with kid gloves or else avoided entirely. In fact, once he’d sat down at his desk in the solitude of his office and mulled it over, he could see exactly why Skye had turned to Ward. Not that he could condone it, of course. Their brief flirtation had ended badly enough the first time and Coulson was in no hurry for a repeat of that situation. This time, the fallout could only be ten times worse, given the fact that both were now in possession of some fairly dangerous powers. 

But no matter whether he agreed or disagreed with their not-so-secret tryst, it seemed that Skye was invested in the relationship, and the lack of news about Ward was evidently causing her extreme anxiety. 

Of course, if Coulson thought even more on the subject, Ward himself seemed different these days. He knew of the Specialist’s past; his abusive childhood, and then the further suffering rained down on him by John Garrett, and Coulson assumed that this was perhaps the first time anybody had been emotionally invested in the young man. In his thirty three years on earth, Skye was probably the very first person to truly care about him. 

Leaning back in his desk chair, Coulson toyed with the ends of his tie, his head resting back against the upholstery as he debated his options. With a sigh of trepidation, he reached for the phone on his desk, fingers hovering for a moment as reconsidered his decision. 

Realising that it was, in fact, the right course of action, Coulson dialled in the familiar but infrequently utilised number then lifted the receiver to his ear. 

The good thing about being the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. was that you had a plethora of agents at your command, poised to act on your orders, whether they agreed with that directive or not. 

He assumed he would meet resistance with his pending order, but Coulson had never shied away from the wrath of Natasha Romanov before, and he wasn’t about to start now. Besides, he had a soft spot for the red-headed Russian that he allowed himself to think was mutual. 

“Agent Romanov? It’s Phil Coulson. I’ve got a job for you.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That's it! We hope you enjoyed this little fic. We're about to start work on another crack fic, so you have been warned!
> 
> Thanks to all who've continued to read/review.

** 24 ** ** th ** ** December 2015 **

It was Christmas Eve, and Skye thought that she had never felt more morose; not even when she was an orphan waiting for a mother and father who never materialised to rescue her. It was depressing, but also it was worrying, because Ward had been due home days ago and all correspondence with him had completely ceased. Skye had attempted again to extract information from Coulson but he was either not forthcoming with the truth or else he actually had nothing to report. He’d simply offered Skye a small, thin smile and informed her that he’d let the whole team know as soon as he had word from Ward. Skye almost scoffed, because she knew it was hardly a matter that the rest of the team would care about, but she managed to refrain. She didn’t need to arouse Coulson’s suspicions about her relationship with Grant, on top of everything else. 

Sometime after dinner, which had been take-out pizza at Fitz’s insistence, Skye had found herself dragged to the common room by Simmons. She really hadn’t been in the mood to stomach the carols playing on the stereo system, or to get involved in the game of Monopoly that May was dominating, but she’d had no other choice. Coulson had been as enthusiastic as FitzSimmons about the idea of a team ‘family night’, and Skye was too outranked to argue. When even Melinda May had acquiesced to board games, sherry drinking, and eating sugar cookies, Skye had no hope of refusing. Still, she had to admit that the warm, fuzzy glow that her third glass of sherry had cocooned her in was helping greatly with her anxiety. The rumbles that had been rocking the base all day without warning had grown more sporadic and, having hit upon this realisation, Simmons was topping up Skye’s glass every time she looked away. Skye thought she could probably get used to drinking what she had at first referred to as ‘stuffy, old English grandma  liquor ’.  Jemma was of course delighted with the festive care package her mother had sent her, complete with the much anticipated Chocolate Orange. 

“Skye?” Fitz stared at their friend impatiently, his eyes ticking from the dice resting on the board to the former hacker, who appeared too caught up in her own thoughts to keep track of the game. “Skye?”

“Oh. Uh… sorry, guys,” she stammered. She shook her head, downing another healthy gulp of alcohol before picking up the dice and tossing it across the table. 

“Seven!” Fitz cried with exaggerated enthusiasm. He moved Skye’s playing piece seven spaces with a loud tap on each square he passed. He settled the dog counter on the board and made no further comment, realising that Skye was playing along merely to appease them. He exchanged a pointed look with Jemma, who shook her head and mouthed ‘no news’ with an appropriately concerned expression directed at their friend. Fitz nodded in understanding, passing the dice to May who gave them a healthy shake in her closed fist before scoring a double 6, much to her evident delight. It had surprised none of them to learn that Melinda May had a decidedly competitive streak. 

With a frown, Simmons perched herself on the side of Skye’s chair and attempted to drape her arm around her friend’s shoulder. Skye flashed a smile up at the other woman, but the gesture was too fleeting – too thin – and lacking in any depth. 

“We’ll keep our fingers crossed, eh?” Simmons encouraged. She leaned into Skye to avoid being overheard. “It’s Christmas Eve, after all. Miracles happen, right?”

Skye shook her head, doing her best to blink away the thick, hot tears that had been threatening to overwhelm her all day. She’d managed to sniff them back more often than not but she wasn’t certain how much longer she could last before she dissolved into an embarrassing display of emotion. 

“I don’t think I’m owed any miracles, Jem,” she murmured, rubbing at her eyes and not caring if she smudged her mascara right across her face. The rest of the team were avoiding looking at her anyway so she doubted they’d notice. 

“Why ever not?” demanded Jemma, clearly scandalised by the sentiment. She was a big believer in the magic of Christmastime, and she’d made it a mission of sorts to bring Skye around to a similar manner of thinking. She could understand why the festive season had never really held much joy for her friend, but she was certain it was time for a change in that respect. Skye deserved happiness, and Simmons would be damned if she allowed her to think otherwise. 

“Because maybe they’re all right,” Skye said, gulping down a sob successfully, much to her own relief. “Maybe I am a monster. Death follows me, remember? Everyone who’s ever loved me has died. So maybe I really am this… horrible… cursed… thing.”

She spoke with such self-loathing that Jemma almost reeled back, her eyes wide in shock and her heart sinking to her feet. Appalled, Jemma shook her head. 

“That is… that is absolute nonsense! You are a good, warm, kind person, Skye, and I won’t hear any more of this… this… bloody rubbish. I know you’ve had a truly horrid year but none of what happened was your fault, and you must stop blaming yourself. Ward is a Specialist…” Jemma lowered her voice and cast a fleeting glance over at their colleagues, who were all pretending not to listen in with varying degrees of success. “He goes on dangerous missions all the time, that’s his job… and we all know how terrifyingly effective he is at that sort of thing.” 

Noting how Skye’s gaze had fallen to her lap, Jemma merely continued her monologue, determined to lift her friend’s spirits. 

“And I have every faith that in the next day or so he’ll come walking through that door like… like… bloody hell!”

“Like ‘bloody hell’?” Skye queried, scrunching her face up in confusion as she tore her gaze away from where it had been intently fixed on her cuticles. 

“I was hoping for a better entrance but… I’ll take what I can get, I guess.”

At the familiar sounding voice, Skye’s head shot up and she found herself digging her fingernails into her thighs. There was an ominous rumbling sound and several of the Monopoly pieces skittered off the board as the walls and floor of the room began to tremble. May rolled her eyes, muttering under her breath as she scrambled to collect her hotels before they ended up on the floor with the rest of her pieces. In the next instant, Skye flung herself from the armchair and dashed across the common room. Ward caught her in his arms easily, bringing her to his chest and peppering kisses to the crown of her head. 

“I was so worried about you,” Skye managed to whisper through her tears. She clung to Ward tighter, straining to encircle him fully in her arms. She pressed her cheek so close to his chest that the constant, inhuman warmth of his body became almost overwhelming far too quickly. She didn’t care. They could both catch light in his flames for all it mattered to Skye in that moment. She had Ward back, he was safe and well, and that was all she had wanted from the second he’d set foot outside the base. 

“I thought… I thought…” Skye began, looking up at him with further tears of relief pricking at the corners of her eyes. Ward shook his head as he reached to cup her cheek, and, ignoring their audience and the potential fallout from outing themselves, he silenced her fears with a kiss that left her melting into his arms. 

“I’ll always come back to you,” he whispered, his lips brushing her ear and then her cheek for good measure. 

Skye hugged him, both arms wrapping around his neck whilst his hands rubbed soothing circles across her back. She smiled as she felt him brush his kisses against her forehead, and then he ducked his head to intercept her gaze. 

“Thank you, Skye.” He peered down at her, fingers tightening upon her waist. His gaze betrayed that he still couldn’t believe his luck. Skye shook her head, ignoring the pointed throat clearing that the rest of the team seemed to be indulging in. 

“For what? A hug? Cos, if you liked that, I gotta tell you, Ward, you’re gonna love what I’ve got planned as soon as we get back to my room.”

A soft puff of laughter passed his lips but he shook his head as he tried to find the words that seemed to be eluding him. For caring, he wanted to explain. For giving him a second chance. For being his ‘someone’ to come home to. 

Instead, he settled on, “For... _everything_.”

Skye stood on her tiptoes, unable to mask her smile as she stared into Ward’s eyes. She could lose herself there, she knew, but she’d go willingly. It felt like a thousand years had passed since she’d last touched him. She could hardly wait to make up for lost time as soon as they were able. 

“I hate to interrupt this… reunion…” Coulson interjected, and both Skye and Ward whipped around to face the Director with varying levels of unease displayed upon their faces. Coulson, however, was careful to keep his expression neutral. 

“Oh… right… I… er…” stammered Skye. She glanced to Ward for help, but found him floundering also. His eyes were wide and, for once, he wore his fear plainly for all to see. Although Skye’s power wasn’t to read minds, she hardly needed to be a telepath to realise that Grant was afraid that Coulson’s discovery of their relationship would at the very least lead to him being expelled from the team, and at most – well, he wasn’t willing to wager. 

“Sir, I’m sorry. Please, let me take full responsibility for…” Ward began, words and his mind failing him in his haste to defend Skye. He never wanted anyone’s wrath to be directed at her, and certainly not that of the people she looked upon as her family. Ward was used to being the outcast, and he could take whatever lumps Coulson dished out. Even if that included a stint on the inside of a cell. 

Coulson watched them blankly, not missing the moment Skye reached back and searched out Ward’s hand. He interlocked their fingers and the pair stood together, facing the group’s collective judgment, as it must have seemed to them. 

The Director stole a glance at May, who offered him an impassive smile as she raised a glass of wine to her lips and then averted her gaze to her fingernails. She’d already made her feelings on the subject more than known to Coulson, and Melinda May hated to repeat herself. 

Setting his gaze on first Ward and then Skye, Coulson opened his arms and merely shrugged. 

“I was just going to ask if you two would be joining us for a game of Scrabble… there’s six boards, and… six of us.” 

FitzSimmons, who’d been watching the tense exchange from their perch on the couch, let out twin squeals of delight, before Simmons grasped her fellow Brit’s arm. 

“It’s a Christmas miracle!” she trilled, delighted. 

Ward gaped, his brow furrowed as he stared at their boss as though he’d lost his mind. “Scrabble, sir?”

“Yeah.” Coulson lifted up the box a second time, watching as Skye and Ward’s faces ran the gambit through a myriad of confused and surprised expressions.

“Ward, who do you think called in the extraction team last night?” asked Coulson, his head cocked and his tone warmer than it had been for a while. 

Ward faltered, shaking his head dumbly. He hated to admit that he’d been so relieved to have found himself finally with back up that he hadn’t given much thought at all to who had provided it. The sight of the Black Widow should have been enough of a tip off, really. However, Ward was prepared to plead exhaustion, and several days of malnourishment. 

“You?” demanded Skye. Coulson bobbed his head, the wisps of a smile playing across his lips. He barely had time to prepare himself before Skye barrelled into him, her arms encircling him immediately. 

“Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Skye whispered the words into Coulson’s chest, her fingers grasping tight at his wool sweater. He chuckled into the crown of her head before giving her one last gentle squeeze. 

“You’re very welcome,” he murmured, surprised to find his next words were genuine. “Both of you. Ward’s part of the team, and we don’t leave anybody behind.”

Ward nodded, the sincerity of his smile amplified by the gratitude reflected in his brown eyes. “Yes, sir… thank you.”

Extracting herself from Coulson’s arms, Skye bounded back over to her boyfriend, enjoying the new found freedom they finally had to explore. Respectfully, of course. Skye was determined not to do anything that might lead to Coulson changing his mind about having two of his team members engaged in a romantic liaison. Not intentionally, anyway. 

Ward shrugged off his leather jacket and tossed it onto the back of the nearby chair. He allowed Skye to lead him by the hand to the end of the couch, where they sat down side by side. Skye pretended not to notice when Grant looped his arm around her and pulled her close, instead focusing on how normal and natural it all felt. His fingertips drifted up and down her side, and the innate tenderness concealed in the gesture made her heart swell. Skye leant her head on his shoulder and inclined her chin to receive the kiss he offered her. Then, she nestled into his side to breathe in his scent, like she had longed to do over the past few lonely nights.

“Alright, go easy on us, Jemma,” Skye teased, arching her eyebrow at the reigning and unbeaten queen of the Scrabble board.

With a smirk, Ward added, “And ‘aglet’ is not a real word.”

The nostalgia wasn’t lost on any of them. 

** x-x-x **

****

** 25 ** ** th ** ** December 2016 **

Christmas was a very different affair to the previous year. Whilst that had certainly been spent with all the team together, Ward’s unexpected Christmas Eve return coupled with the revelation regarding his and Skye’s relationship, had made for a celebration that had been thrown together in a sort of slapdash fashion. There hadn’t been enough food for everyone, since Fitz had been in charge of cooking the turkey and that had gone about as well as could be expected from a Scot who survived off Pot Noodles, and Coulson had accidentally over-ordered on wine, making for an interesting liquid dinner accompanied by plenty of candy canes and not much else. The entire team had been more than a little ‘merry’ by three pm, leading to FitzSimmons insisting they all sit around and watch YouTube videos of the Queen’s speech whilst they sloppily saluted the TV. By nine, May had fallen asleep at the table with her head in her hands, Coulson was singing country music Christmas songs into an empty bottle of Rioja, and Skye and Ward had been dragged into a game of charades by the science team that had ended in Fitz threatening to remove all his clothes. Ward, who had perhaps been the most sober of the team given his superior alcohol tolerance, had ended up slinging the shorter man over his shoulder and carrying him to his room so he could sleep off the whole sordid affair. According to Skye, it had still been the best Christmas Day of her life, despite the fact that she and Ward hadn’t had time to find presents for each other in the end. 

This year, however, had proven very different. In the last twelve months, Coulson’s band of unruly misfits had grown into the team that they had perhaps always been destined to become. They were a unit - a family once more - and that old camaraderie that had existed in the early days had evolved into something so much stronger. That even included Grant Ward, who had managed to become an integral and trusted member of the team, despite his own worst fears. Of course, he was still so hopelessly in love with Skye, and if the sparkling diamond that adorned the third finger of her left hand was anything to go by, the feeling was more than mutual. 

Skye’s cheek pressed to the pillow of his bare chest and she sighed in contentment. A smile settled on her face as she surveyed their room and the trail of clothing that led to their bed. She caressed the line of his jaw, the light from the lamp on the night-stand catching the gem that had been slipped onto her finger a few short hours ago.

“Come on, give me a hint… a little one,” she coaxed before she ended up murmuring nonsensically against his lips as he silenced her with a kiss. 

When Skye had learned the previous day that Ward had a Christmas surprise in store for her, he had found himself enduring an inquisition that would have made the Red Room look like amateurs. Though he had been intending to propose on Christmas morning, his nerves had gotten the better of him, and he’d found the words slipping from his lips whilst they’d been getting ready for a Christmas Eve dinner date; a date that they’d found themselves cancelling even as clothing had been torn off and scattered. After that, the base had been subject to hours of seismic tremors that left very little doubt to the couple’s amorous activities. 

“You’ll find out in…” Ward glanced to the clock on the dresser, “four hours. Even you can wait four hours.”

Skye huffed out a sigh of irritation, allowing her lips to hover above his as she rolled over to sprawl herself across him. 

“Fine! But you’re gonna have to distract me.”

Ward laughed before arching an eyebrow as he dipped his hands underneath the covers to run his palms down her back. They came to rest on the enticing curve of her rear and he smirked in satisfaction at his lot. 

“Yes, ma’am,” he drawled. Suddenly, he rolled them both over, pinning Skye to the mattress and kissing her with renewed hunger.

Skye’s stomach chose that moment to let out a loud, insistent growl of actual hunger, and she groaned against Ward’s lips in absolute frustration. They might have skipped breakfast in favour of more energetic activities. The whole team had agreed to convene in the common room at ten in order to exchange gifts, and Skye found herself genuinely excited by the prospect. She’d made a real effort this year to engage in as many Christmas activities as possible, much to Simmons’ glee. They’d been shopping together earlier in the month and Skye had taken great pleasure in choosing each team member a gift that she was certain they’d love. Simmons had then delivered her a crash course in gift wrapping, which Skye had found herself in dire need of when she’d attempted to wrap Coulson’s replica Thor helmet. However, she’d drawn the line when Jemma had encouraged her to pose on the knee of the mall Santa for a photo. 

“ I could  whip us something up real quick?” suggested Grant. He drew away from his fianceé; a word he’d never tire of hearing or saying, until the day arrived that he could call her his wife instead. Firmly, Skye shook her head and used her palm to send a gentle jolt of power into the centre of Ward’s chest. It didn’t hurt but it did force him backwards, against the pillows he’d been poised to free himself from. 

“Nuh uh, don’t you dare move,” she commanded. Ward’s grin was nothing short of lascivious as Skye allowed the sheet to drop away from her naked body. 

“I’ll grab some Pop Tarts and a banana. You’re mine and mine alone for at least the next forty minutes.”

Running his gaze over her curves, Ward narrowed his eyes and bracketed his head underneath his hands. 

“I’m gonna need at least an hour,” he countered, pleased when a blush coloured Skye’s cheeks and she mirrored his wolfish expression. 

Pulling a t-shirt over her head, Skye shrugged in acceptance before searching out her bath robe . She was already anticipating throwing the shirt back off in favour of Ward’s hands and lips mapping out her skin. 

“I guess I’ll just grab the Pop Tarts.” 

Giggling at Ward’s characteristic smirk, Skye knelt on the edge of the bed and ducked down to press a departing kiss to his lips. “I’ll be right back.”

His fingers wound around her wrist and he pulled her back to repeat the gesture, making sure the soft, slow swipe of his tongue against hers left her in no doubt of his plans once she was back in his arms. Skye groaned, liquid heat pooling between her thighs as his fingers ghosted up her leg to stroke at her centre. 

“Grant… stop that,” she protested, despite the whine of pleasure that clarified her actual feelings on the matter. 

“I can’t,” he argued, lips trailing down her neck as he felt her tremble at his attentions. “ _ I want you _ .”

Skye half-heartedly batted him away, her teeth worrying her bottom lip as she whimpered. “You know, you could always go and grab supplies from the kitchen… you’d be… faster… than…” 

Brow pinched, her mouth fell open in a sigh, but this time she managed to steal her resolve to slap his questing hands away. Flopping against the pillows, Ward shook his head, a smug look on his face as he gestured to the very obvious tent beneath the sheets. 

“I’d love to, but…” 

Skye found herself absently licking her lips, her eyes wide as she pointed at him in warning. For a moment, she found herself mourning the fact that super speed wasn’t in fact her Inhuman power. 

“Don’t move!”

His laughter followed her out of the door and, true to her word, she tiptoed down the empty hallway with focused determination.

The common room was far closer than the kitchen, and Skye knew Fitz had been stashing snacks and treats away in the cupboards there since November, thus that was the direction she headed in with urgency. She wrapped her robe tighter around herself, hoping she wouldn’t encounter anyone else in the hall, just in case they delayed her return to Grant and his magic fingers. Her heart almost sank when she reached the closed door of the common room and the sounds of muffled laughter reached her ears. 

Grumbling under her breath, Skye strained her ears for a moment as she attempted to identify the voices. FitzSimmons. Definitely FitzSimmons - especially if the high pitched titters were anything to go by. Fitz was known across the base for sounding like a giddy schoolgirl when he got carried away. 

Skye rested a palm against the closed door, mind working overtime as she attempted to come up with an on the spot excuse as to why she couldn’t stay and chat with her friends. She reasoned that they’d probably come to drop off their presents for the rest of the gang ahead of their rendezvous time, which was less than an hour away. Sure enough, she heard Simmons’ voice filtering through the chink underneath the door. 

“Fitz! Stop! I need to get these presents under the tree.”

Fitz responded barely a moment later, his voice a comical whine, “Come on, Jem. I want to unwrap mine now!”

Skye rolled her eyes, imagining the childlike excitement that was currently seizing her friend, as he imagined getting his hands on the latest Star Wars Lego.

Except, when Skye finally inched the door open, that wasn’t exactly what the Scot apparently had anticipated getting his hands on. 

“Fitz! Stop!” Jemma chastised, turning around and slapping her colleague on the chest as he wrapped his arms around her, then pressed a decidedly non-friendly kiss to her neck. Jemma giggled at his advances, leaning back into his arms and patting his clasped hands as they settled on her waist. Reaching back, Jemma directed his lips to hers, and the pair became caught up in the sort of kiss that left their impromptu voyeur’s stomach rolling.

Skye’s mouth fell open in shock and she slapped her palm to her mouth before she emitted a gasp of at least semi-surprise. 

“Ughh, gross. I knew it!” she whispered. She watched for a few more minutes whilst the pair diligently placed a bag full of gifts around the tree, pausing only to admire their handy work before they stole out of the room, hand in hand, via the second exit.

Skye couldn’t hear the hushed conversation between the pair, but Jemma’s chuckle and accompanying cry of  _ “Fitz! You’re so naughty!” _ left her grimacing at the imagery that conjured.

All thoughts of Pop Tarts abandoned, and her appetite well and truly ruined, Skye made her way back to her room. Her features were drawn into a grimace that Ward intercepted with confusion as she closed the door behind her with a click.

“Everything okay?” he checked. Skye shrugged wordlessly, throwing off the robe as she strode towards the bed and her waiting fiancé. 

“Skye?” Ward’s brow furrowed. “You decided you didn’t want a snack?”

Remaining silent, Skye pulled her t-shirt up and over her head before clambering back onto the bed to kneel astride him. Answering his questioning gaze, Skye took his hands and leant in for a kiss that he was all too happy to provide. She placed one of his hands over her breast and directed the other between her thighs. Although he appreciated her directness, he’d been planning on taking his time. 

“Skye?”

“Grant, I’m gonna need a lot of hot, sweaty sex, and at least like… three orgasms, before I can tell you about what I just saw and… and heard. Okay?!”

“Okay,” he agreed, a smirk forming on his face as he sat up. His stare was of the ravenous kind that made her insides somersault. “Just three?!”

Quirking her lips into a smile, Skye quipped, “It’s a start.”

** x-x-x **

It had taken every last ounce of Skye’s self-restraint not to blurt out what she’d seen that morning in front of the whole team as they exchanged gifts. To their absolute credit, FitzSimmons managed to keep up their charade in front of May and Coulson when the time came. Obviously, Skye had filled Grant in with all the gory details, which had set him off laughing for a good five minutes. He’d then declared how happy he was for the science duo, whilst Skye had assaulted him with one of their pillows and claimed she was scarred for life. Ever one to point out her tendency for hypocrisy, Ward had outlined how understanding Simmons had been when she’d discovered their relationship the previous year, and Skye had thought herself suitably chastised. She was happy for her friends, of course. That didn’t mean she wanted to have a front row seat for their bedroom antics, however. 

Staring out of the car window, Skye pressed a gloved hand to the glass, watching as the town they’d driven through began to fade away into abandoned, snow drifted country roads. 

“Grant… seriously,” she began, rolling her eyes and flopping back in her seat as he regarded her from the driver’s seat with an exasperated glare she remembered from the days he had called her his ‘rookie’. “You suck.”

“Trust me,” he countered, leaning over and pressing a kiss to her temple, which seemed to quell her irritation for at least a few minutes.

“Oooh, this is all rather exciting!” Simmons exclaimed from the back seat. She observed their surroundings with evident enthusiasm, which only piqued Skye’s curiosity further. Evidently, FitzSimmons were also involved in whatever plot Ward had cooked up. 

Fitz sat beside Simmons and, whenever the two were convinced that Skye wasn’t paying attention, they held hands. Secretly, Skye had started to think it was kind of cute, not that she’d ever admit as much to Ward. They’d both decided that they’d guard their friends’ secret as best they could, and allow them to come clean to Coulson on their own time. If they managed to last that long without an unfortunate discovery. Skye felt they could use some pointers in that department. 

“Are we there yet?” demanded Fitz, squirming in his seat. He scowled as he added pointedly, “I need the loo.”

“Honestly, Fitz, I told you to go before we left,” huffed Ward. 

Skye suddenly found her attention stolen by the road signs that Ward seemed to be following. All too soon, they rolled to a stop outside a sprawling and somewhat imposing building, built with the kind of Victorian grandeur that at once incited both fear and awe in the visitor. Or in this case, in the little residents it housed.

“‘Cedar Hills Orphanage’,” Skye read the sign aloud, quietly. Her eyes began to mist over as she peered up at the building with a growing sense of trepidation and sadness that she hadn’t revisited for almost ten years. 

“Grant, what are we doing here?” She turned to him slowly, pulling off her gloves to bat at her brown eyes. Ward reached out and clasped her hand in his, using his free hand to brush escaped tears from her cheek. 

“We’re gonna give these kids the kind of Christmas you always wanted,” he replied. He watched through the windshield as May parked directly in front of them, and the trunk of the SUV opened to reveal bags of neatly wrapped gifts. 

“I had a little help…” he added, his eyes ticking to the grinning scientists in the back of the car.

Skye’s jaw slackened and her lips formed a tiny ‘o’ of surprise. She stared at Grant hard, words failing her. This was her surprise, she realised; the chance to help children who may never be as fortunate as her to make some memories they could treasure long into adulthood. It was perhaps the best gift she’d ever been given. 

“Was this your idea?” she asked. Ward bit his bottom lip, suddenly looking unsure of himself and his attempt at a selfless gesture that would go some way into aiding Skye’s healing. He hoped that he hadn’t simply reopened the wound that losing her parents had inflicted upon her all too recently. Eventually, he nodded. 

Skye drew closer and her palm brushed against Ward’s cheek. She stared into his eyes with such intent that it rendered him breathless. 

“You are a good man, Grant Ward. Don’t ever forget that.”

She leaned forwards quickly and planted a kiss on her fiancé’s lips, ignoring the noises of disgust that Fitz made in the back seat. Skye just managed to bite back a quip regarding what she had witnessed between the two scientists that morning. She would have her revenge eventually. 

The sounds of happy shrieks and laughter drew her eyes to the front yard of the building, where Coulson and May were being swamped by scores of excited orphans. Skye counted twenty five children in total, and her heart lurched in her chest for them – for the innocence that had been stolen from them all too soon. 

“I got you another gift too,” Ward said, interrupting Skye’s maudlin thoughts. She allowed herself to be pulled back to the present, doing her best to push aside any lingering sadness she felt. It should be a happy day, she determined, full of smiles and laughter, for the benefit of the kids that could certainly use a little magic in their lives. 

Skye looked at the large, expertly wrapped box with uncertainty. She shook her head in wonder as she received the gift with a smile and slight suspicion. 

“Seriously, Grant, you’re making me look like a really bad girlfriend, here. I gave you, like… three gifts, and…”

Ward shrugged, capturing her left hand and kissing just above where the engagement ring sat on her finger. He’d been terrified to ask her, doubting that she of all people deserved somebody like him. But the idea of living his life with anybody but Skye beside him was unimaginable, so he’d served his own selfish, love-struck interests, and bought the ring anyway. Much to his relief, Skye had nodded her reply and thrown herself into his arms, almost knocking the wind out of his lungs. 

“You gave me you,” he replied, leaning into her touch as she reached up to caress his cheek. Gently, he coaxed, “Open it.” 

Tearing into her latest gift, Skye let out a peel of laughter that even caught May and Coulson’s attention. Digging her hand into the box she’d unearthed, Skye withdrew a pair of new, shiny, orange roller blades.

“Oh my God!” she squealed in delight. She reached up to throw her arms around his neck, almost hitting him with the skates in the process. “You do know I have no idea how to skate, right?!”

Ward shrugged, one hand on the door handle as he leant forward and kissed the tip of her nose. “I’ll be there to catch you if you fall.”

“Coulson bought a couple of pairs for the wee ones, too,” Fitz said with a smile as he inclined his head towards his boss, who was happily playing Santa Claus as he handed out gifts from the trunk of the SUV. “Maybe you can all learn together.”

“I’m going to get owned by a bunch of five year olds,” stated Skye, but she spoke with such genuine excitement and joy that it brought a grin immediately to Grant’s face. He didn’t doubt that she was going to be in her element all afternoon, just hanging out and playing with the kids. Now, after everything they had been through and conquered together, he dared to hope that, one day in the future, it would be their own children that Skye would be so thrilled to spend her time with. 

“Well, we didn’t want anyone being disappointed by stationery,” quipped Ward. Laughing, Skye swatted at him, but missed by a mile given that she was far too distracted by the scene occurring outside the car window to really be insulted. 

FitzSimmons exited the car and hurried to the over-excited children, no doubt anticipating helping them build Lego castles, or fashion skyscrapers out of Mechano sets; as a duo, they had insisted that at least some of the gifts be geared towards the quieter, more academic of the orphanage’s residents. 

Skye had swivelled around in her seat, legs dangling out of the car as she fastened the velcro straps on the skates and gingerly stood up. Her hands found purchase on the door frame. 

Ward met her on the passenger side of the car and held out his hands. He took each of hers in his own and helped her to stand, like a newborn deer trying out their legs for the first time.

“So, how do you feel about spending Christmas Day in the nearest ER?” she teased. She let out a whoop of surprise, catching herself off-guard as she fell into the safety of Ward’s chest.

“That reminds me…” Chuckling to himself, he reached into the back of the car and produced a matching black and orange safety helmet, which he deposited onto her head with a wink. “Safety first, Rookie.” 

As he fastened the straps under her chin, he smirked, then ducked his head to kiss her as an afterthought. 

Despite how ridiculous Skye assumed she looked, she couldn’t help the beaming smile threatening to overcome her pretty face. Every Christmas she’d spend in St. Agnes’ had only served to remind her of how unloved and unwanted she was. This year, she felt complete; as if finally she’d found her place to be in the world. As it turned out, that wasn’t in a house with a white picket fence, or in a conventional family, but instead with a group of friends she’d come to look upon as such. And, in the arms of the man she loved above anything else. 

“Ward? This is the best Christmas I’ve ever had. Not because you gave me diamonds, or a pair of really cool orange roller blades, but because…” Skye frowned as she tried to find the words to express how she felt, reminded again of the sense of rejection she’d carried with her all of her life. “I’m wanted, and loved, and that’s all I ever wanted, I guess. For someone to choose me. In case I forget to say this later… I love you more than anything, and I choose you. Forever.”

Ward’s smile was almost blinding and he squeezed Skye’s hand in reply. He understood her sentiment better than anyone else could. Although he’d grown up in a comfortable house, surrounded by money and privilege, he had never really been wanted; certainly never loved. Fate had dealt him a cruel hand and, as the old adage went, you couldn’t choose your family. But that was in the past, and Skye was his future. Finally, he too knew what it meant to be valued and needed, beyond his role as a Specialist or a hired gun. There was someone there to hold him when he was scared and promise everything would be okay, to make him chicken soup and bully him into taking his medicine when he was sick, and to curl their body around his in bed when the nights grew unbearably cold. Ward hadn’t been born a killer or a traitor or a mercenary, he had been shaped into it by a lifetime of neglect and abuse. Once, he’d been convinced that those terrible, awful things were the best he could hope for – all he could ever amount to. Until Skye had come along, and helped him to realise that he could and should remould himself into whatever type of man he wanted to be; preferably, one he could stand to see looking back at him in the mirror every morning. Skye had encouraged him to become the type of man who devoted his Christmas day to bringing happiness to those who needed it most. 

Grant was now the person Skye had originally thought he’d been, back in the days when she pulled the trigger and said ‘bang’, and whiled away the hours over fraught games of Battleship. He’d become her hero, just as he first had been all those years ago.

“Alright, here goes nothing,” Skye began, awkwardly angling her body towards their friends with one hand clutched in Ward’s and the other thrown out at her side to aid her balance. 

Mirth alive in his eyes, Ward watched her adoringly, amused by her grin and the giggles that escaped her. Skye didn’t notice his eyes upon her, far too preoccupied with avoiding an unceremonious descent to the ground. 

But, as Grant had promised her earlier, he would always be there to catch her if she fell. 


End file.
